Trial of Alfred Crofton for setting fire to haystacks at Bere Farm. 23rd November 1933

A press cutting from The Times concerning the trial of Alfred Crofton and his imprisonment for setting fire to haystacks. 23 November 1933. The Dover Express of 17th November noted that two stacks had been set alight at Bere Farm Westcliffe and one at Broadlees Farm Guston.  Crofton, a Dover resident, was apprehended by the Police at 9.20pm walking down Castle Hill shortly after the fires had been reported and confessed immediately. He was tried at The Maidstone Assizes where he was found guilty and given 5 years. He said that he ‘had nothing to live on and was fed up’ so he set a light to the stacks. He had only recently been released from prison following a three year sentence for a similar offence.